Ferrari GTC4Lusso first drive review

According to Ferrari's own figures its big four-seater coupe attracts a very different kind of customer to its more famous (and arguably more desirable) sports cars.

For starters, they get used more often, covering 50 per cent more distance. Amazingly, 60 per cent of all trips are done with a full complement of three passengers. And also surprisingly, despite being at the more expensive end of the Ferrari price list, the just-replaced FF coupe was owned by customers 10 years younger than the norm.

The GTC4Lusso, which replaces the FF, can therefore be regarded quite comfortably as the family Ferrari. That is, providing that family can scrape together the $578,888 needed for an entry ticket when the Lusso arrives in Australia early in 2017.

In fact, the GTC is more of an upgrade on the FF but with every body panel changed, a whole new interior, more engine power and added technology such as four-wheel steering to go with the existing all-wheel-drive system, so it's not just a mid life nip-and-tuck.

What remains is that same controversial shape that Ferrari refers to as a shooting brake but others have more unkindly compared with a station wagon or bread van.

By sculpting the sides and making the roofline more flowing the GTC4Lusso looks lower, wider and meaner than the FF but what remains is a degree of practicality more akin to a large sedan.

The back seat holds two passengers quite comfortably providing they are less than 182cm tall, and it folds down to extend luggage space to a more than acceptable degree.

2016 Ferrari GTC4Lusso. Photo: Lorenzo Marcinno

All that interior space, plus a long bonnet to accommodate the V12 powerplant, has resulted in quite a large car. The GTC4Lusso is a tad under five metres long and at more than 1.9 metres wide it takes up a fair amount of road space.

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Weight has been kept to a respectable although hardly sporty 1790kg thanks partly to measures such as the compact AWD hardware that drives the front wheels off the forward part of the engine.

Speaking of which, the 6.3-litre V12 has had the magic wand waved over its internals with a new piston and combustion chamber design lifting its compression ratio to 13.5:1 for better efficiency while a new knock sensor detects fuel octane ratings, retards or advances spark and stops the whole thing from detonating.

The V12's power output has been lifted by 22kW to 507kW and torque by 14Nm to 697Nm at 5750rpm. That last figure sounds big, but it's worth noting the non-turbo V12 is still outgunned in that department by Ferrari's new generation of turbocharged V8s which, in the California T for instance, is good for 755Nm and 1000rpm lower in the rev range.

Which is not to say the Lusso is slow, or the V12 doesn't have a very special character all of its own. Hit the red starter button on the steering wheel and the engine fires with an automatic blip of the throttle that's sure to wake the neighbours before settling down to a steady idle.

Select a gear by yanking on the paddle shifts for the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and you're away. Default mode for the gearbox is for automatic shifts – which it does nicely in most instances, quickly learning whether the driver is going for a quiet dawdle or something more serious – but like any modern Ferrari, full manual shifts are available just by hitting a button on the centre console.

At first you might be forgiven for thinking the Lusso is a bit of a pussy cat. The engine burbles away nicely but in a muted fashion, road noise is commendably low, the thin-looking seats are nevertheless quite comfy and the ride is beautifully damped for absorbing sharp shocks while still giving the impression of complete suspension control.

Even the engine can feel a little tame at times; in higher gears at lowish revs it flows forward instead of surging on a bed a turbo torque, and while there's a nice snarly noise from the two-stage exhaust it's still relatively subdued and civilized.

But to hold the throttle wide open and use the full scale of the V12's rev range is to unleash hell. The exhaust opens up to a bellow, then a howl beyond 5000rpm and up beyond 8000rpm you have accessed over half a megawatt of engine power and it's time to grab the next gear.

Ferrari claims the GTC4Lusso will hit 100km/h in 3.4 seconds on its way to a heady 335km/h top speed and it feels every bit that quick. But it's the urgency of the gearshifts, the engine that begs to be pushed hard, even the direct and responsive steering that say this is as much a performance supercar as a grand tourer able to take four adults in comfort.

The new four-wheel steering helps give what is quite a large car an unseemly amount of agility. Ferrari talks of achieving a "passo corto virtuale" or virtual short wheelbase, making the GTC4Lusso as nimble as a smaller sports car. Torque can be sent to the front wheels of course, there's an electronic limited slip differential and the weight balance of 47/53 front-to-rear all help.

The result is razor sharp turn in to tight corners and more than enough front grip to ensure understeer is virtually non-existent. Boot the throttle on exit with "sport" mode selected on the steering wheel's lovely Manettino selection dial and the limited interference from stability control means the rear end will kick loose like a conventional high-powered rear-drive car.

It's fast, it's fun and wildly impressive to drive, but what about the "lusso" part of the name that, after all, translates to luxury?

The fully leather clad interior is a nice start not least for the heady aroma of tanned cowhide, but there are also plenty of gadgets to play with.

The big 10.2-inch central display is mounted so the passenger can access it as easily as the driver for all the touch-and-swipe control of navigational, audio, climate, trip computer and Apple CarPlay functions.

For a fairly steep $9500 there's an optional touchscreen just for the front passenger's use from which they can monitor most of the same parameters, plus keep an eye on their own speed and rev-counter information.

The driver gets a big analogue tachometer in the middle of the instrument panel that is flanked by two circular digital displays that can be changed to display everything from trip information, to yet another GPS display or even a speedo if that's required.

Strangely, for a car that's actually badged "grand touring", there's no cruise control and automatic collision avoiding braking is absent. You can, however, get a full length glass roof panel which only adds another $32,500 to the price tag.

So sure, the GTC4Lusso is expensive enough to be irrelevant to most mortals and you'd think anyone looking for actual practicality in their high-end purchase is well served for luxurious sedans and SUVs.

But there's not much that matches the breadth of this Ferrari's capabilities when it comes to sheer speed and excitement, then there's the dramatic styling and the bonus is you can take three passengers along to enjoy the ride. The GTC is a unique and intriguing proposition and it's easy enough to see it being an alluring one as well.